my best
friends brother
24

blair

"I'm going to bust my ass, I'm going to bust my ass for sure," Is what murmured under my breath.

After IHOP, we still had 45 minutes left to kill. Since we couldn't go anywhere further than IHOP because school is five minutes away and we wanted to get back on time. Aiden decided to teach me how to skate. On an actual board.

It was either this or sit in IHOP for an extra 45 minutes. I couldn't do it. I would get hungry again.

So skateboarding it was. I've always wanted to learn but I was always too afraid. As a kid, Aiden learned how to skate from his older cousin on his dad's side who has been in many skateboarding competitions.

He makes it look so easy. All you have to do is put one foot on the board, the other on the ground, and ride it like a scooter. Skateboarding is basically like riding a scooter with no breaks or Handlebars.

How is it THIS hard?

"I'm going to die!" I squeaked as I caught Aiden about to let go of me. I jumped into his arms, the board rolling a few feet away hitting a brick wall.

"Blair, you're not going to die," He sighed.

"Don't sigh at me. I'm trying," I glared.

"Yeah yeah. Come on you big baby," He rolled his eyes playfully and walked over to grab the board.

I was still in his arms, wrapped around him like a koala bear. "Ready to try again?" He asked.

I shook my head rapidly.

"Come on. I promise I won't let you DiE as you dramatically put it," I rolled my eyes and continued to hang onto him stubbornly. "No," I whined.

"Please? For me? I'm a great teacher," he pouted.

"You were about to let me go without warning!" He chuckled at my facial expression and wrapped his arms underneath my thighs, holding me upright.

"I unexpectedly learned it that way," He shrugged.

"And I was going to unexpectedly die that way."

Squeezing my thighs, Aiden kissed my lips.

"One more try, I promise."

"Fine you dick," I replied and he gasped dramatically at my words and sat me down on my own two feet.

"Such language."

"You wanna hear some real language?" I arched my eyebrows. He shook his head, "Didn't think so."

Steadily, Aiden held the board in place with one foot and placed his hands out to help me. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed his hands firmly and carefully stepped on.

The board wobbled and before I could bitch out and jump off, Aiden smoothly wrapped his arms around my waist. He then slowly began to push me.

"Now one foot out. I'm going to let you go."

"Wait!" He grabbed me off the board and I turned around and stood on my tippy toes.

"Kiss good luck?" I asked the cheesiest thing a person could ask for. Aiden rolled his eyes playfully and leaned down to press a full kiss to my mouth.

When I wrapped my arms around his neck
he pulled me back and shook his head.

"Stop trying to distract and stall."

I groaned. I really thought that would work.

"Fine. Push me to my death," I sighed,
not caring anymore

After positioning back onto the skateboard, 10 seconds later I was skating on my own but after a few more seconds, I started to lose some control.

I closed my eyes, waiting for my body to crash against something but the only thing I felt was my body being lifted with one hand and the sound of the skateboard crashing against another brick wall.

The person sat me down and I took deep breaths and glanced at the now shattered skateboard pieces.

Oh, no, no! That was Aiden's favorite and only one! I rushed toward the pieces and cursed underneath my breath. "Shit, shit!" I groaned and grabbed pieces.

"Blair? Are you okay?" I furrowed my eyebrows before standing back up. I forgot to thank the—

As I was on my way to thank the person who'd save me, I was taken back by who it was standing in front of me. I gave him a once over and stepped back.

"W-What are you doing here?"

"I'm all better," He smiled sadly, "Well not all better," He chuckled and lifted his arm cast up.

My mind couldn't function him being here and all I could do was stare at him. He looked like himself.

Except for the cast on his left arm and the bandage on his right cheek. But other than that, he still looked like Matteo. I was glad he was okay.

"No but seriously," His expression turned serious, "Are you okay?" I backed away when he stood closer this time. Every time I see him, I can't forget.

I see our memories, him cheating, me almost getting shot, then watching him get shot. It was too much.

Arms grabbing my waist broke my eye contact and I looked up to see Aiden checking for any bruises.

"I-I'm okay," I said raspy and cleared my throat.

"Good," He sighed in relief and pulled me closer while kissing my forehead. I closed my eyes, wishing I could make us or even Matteo disappear.

"I broke your skateboard," I whispered, "I'm sorry."

Aiden rubbed my arms up and down in comfort. "It's okay. I can get a new one, it's old anyway. I'm just glad you didn't get hurt," He replied back.

"But it was your only favorite..."

"Baby it's okay," He smiled sadly through a small inaudible chuckle and wiped underneath my eyes.

"It's nothing to cry over," He assured me and pressed a kiss to my forehead. My eyebrows knitted together. I hadn't realized I shedded a few tears.

After wiping my face off in a hurry, I took a deep breath and found the bit of courage in me to look up at Matteo. I regretted it though. Seeing his eyes move back and forth between Aiden and me, tugged on my heartstrings. It shouldn't because he doesn't deserve to feel hurt by seeing me with someone.

"Um, thank you for catching me. That's two for two," I cleared my throat then laughed awkwardly.

"You're important to me and I'll always be there. If you let me," I sucked in a breath, almost getting lost in his eyes which used to be my favorite feature of him. Aiden tugging at my arm thankfully broke it.

"She doesn't need you to be there anymore," Aiden sneered, "You had the chance once and you blew it."

"We should get back to school," Our fingers interlocked together. I nodded in agreement but
my feet wouldn't move and neither my eyes.

"Come on," He whispered and gently pulled me back into reality. My eyes moved away from Matteo and onto Aiden's. We stared at each other for a few seconds until I remembered the skateboard.

"Wait!" I brushed my hair away and bent down to grab as many pieces as I could. I wanted to fix it.

At least try to. But it was my fault it broke.

"Blair, stop," Aiden tugged my arm.

"N-No. I broke it, I'll fix it," I felt tears sting my eyes for no reason. My frustration was starting to show.

"It's—"

"Fine! Whatever!" I jumped up and walked away from them both and towards the car.

I wiped my tears along the way, hoping I didn't look as if I was crying again. I hate that I'm like this. I hate that I have so much frustration inside and don't know how to deal with it. I hate I'm one of those girls who gets stuck and frozen when their ex is around.

I like Aiden, I really do.

But whenever Matteo comes around, old memories come back. I loved him and whenever I see him, those thoughts and feelings come right back too.

I shouldn't still like him because it's not fair to Aiden. He confessed to me, just at the wrong time.

Fuck I hate myself.

I can't be with him if I'm still feeling this way.

It's not fair.

But I can't break his heart. I've never wanted to be the one to have to break someone's heart.

I felt a hand slip into mine and squeeze. The feeling warmed my heart and I was happy Aiden gave me that feeling. I hadn't felt that feeling in a while.

I was glad it was him and no one was else.

___________

The bell for seventh period rang which frustrated me more. We only had one more class after this until the end of the day. With everything I was feeling at the moment, after what happened earlier, I just needed to be in someone's arms that doesn't have feelings for me. I needed my best friend to cheer me up.

Plus, during my last few classes, I've had this stupid urge feeling that someone has been watching me.

I hated that feeling.

As the teacher wrote the warm-up on the board, I took my time taking out the things I needed so by the time I got them out, she'd be done writing.

And I just wasn't in no rush or the mood.

While sitting my notebook on top of my desk, my eyes caught a glimpse of someone staring at me.

But It was only for a quick second before she turned away quickly after getting caught watching me.

I began writing down the warm-up question, already knowing the answer. What are all living things made up of? Easy. Everyone should know this by now.

Bio is one of my favorite classes. It's not easy but
it is an interesting subject that I do quite well in.

"Bio your favorite subject?" A voice asked.

I felt the person sit down beside me and flop their belongings on the table as well. Looking up from my notes, there was a girl beside me. The same girl I caught watching me a few minutes ago.

She had curly hair just like the girl I had met at lunch but this girl's hair was black. She shared the same eyes as Hayden too. Her skin complexion was just a bit darker than hers. They looked alike.

"Uh, yeah. You?" I replied.

She shrugged and lifted her legs on top of the table and folded her arms across her chest.

Unlike Hayden, she seemed a bit older.

"It's cool. Fuck the work though."

I nodded awkwardly and turned back to face my notes. I could still feel the girl watching me.

"You got a name, beautiful?" She asked and I almost choked on air. Clearing my throat I spoke.

"Blair. Yours?"

"Ashontay. Question. Are you real?"

I snorted at her question and glanced at her. She was closer this time which confused me. When did she even—? "Pretty sure I'm like 98% human."

"No, I just asked because you look like a fallen angel. We have some classes together and you probably felt me staring but, not to be alarmed. I just needed to make sure you were real and I wasn't a crazy bitch who'd had a crush on a person who isn't real."

She shrugged her shoulders after while I sat there with wide eyes. Wow, this girl is blunt. She reminds me of Dylan. I tilted my head at her. Crush?

"Oh, okay. Um, thank you... ?" I replied.

"Did I say crush out loud?" She stared ahead and pressed her lips together. I nodded awkwardly.

"Well fuck me. I'm sorry, I'm a blunt person and—"

"No it's okay," I laughed and sat up straight.

"It's just that..."

"You aren't into girls. I get it. It's okay."

"I'm sorry..." I looked at her with a sad smile.

"Eh, I kind of figured after seeing you with some guy earlier who looks deadass familiar," She shook her head and thought deeply. She knew Aiden from somewhere? I shrugged it off and got back to work.

45 minutes later the bell finally rang and I was still irritated by the fact that school didn't officially end until another hour and a half later. I groaned internally at the thought and put my things away.

As I stood up from my seat, so did Ashontay.

"What class you got last?"

"World history."

She smirked, "Me too. Mind leading the way?"

"Yeah sure," I smiled briefly and began walking to my last class with Ashontay by my side. As we walked, people in the halls stared. Mostly at Ashontay. I mean, I would too. She seems badass.

"Do you know why people are staring at you?

"Because they heard about me and what happened. Not surprised. Happens at a lot," She shrugged carelessly and ignored the stares and whispers.

"Well, what happened? If you don't mind."

"I got expelled from my old school."

"Oh," was all I could mutter.

"I've been expelled only twice in the same year. My family had enough of it and decided to move us from Jamaica to America. My parents thought it would be a good fresh start and my behavior would change."

She rolled her eyes at the thought and faced me, looking for my reaction. I didn't have one really.

"Wow. That must be hard. Moving all the way across the country, leaving your friends and other families."
I couldn't imagine leaving my friends and family and moving all the way across the country.

"Most of my family don't like me. Whenever we visit them or they visit us, they... find ways to judge the way I am. My friends? Didn't have many."

"But they are probably somewhere in America right now like me " She pressed her lips together.

I didn't know what to say after that. So we just continued walking in silence. Ashontay would occasionally give people the finger when they'd stare at her too hard and make a face.

"Hey bubbles," I heard Kaiden as he walked beside me and wrapped his arms around me. I smiled up at him, "Hey. Uh, why are you out of breath?"

He laughed and looked around the halls.

"I'm running from Dylan. I stole her bag of cookies while she was eating em," He wiggled his eyebrows and pulled out a bag of chocolate chip cookies in a ziplock bag. I chuckled and shook my head.

"She's going to murder you."

"I know," He said in amusement.

"Ayo fuckface!" Dylan's voice roared from behind us. Her voice caught the attention of everyone in the hall. "Run while you still can," I squeezed him.

Kaiden laughed and began making a run for it. Dylan was a bit behind but when she caught up, she stopped in front of me, also out of breath.

"He stole my cookies peaches. H-He took them while I was enjoying them! He-" I nodded rapidly and grabbed her upper arms and calmed her.

"I know and it's okay."

"I'm going to kill him. Bail me out if I go to prison," and then she took off down the hall into history.

Well, this class is going to be a trip. All three of us have the same class. So yeah. I mind as well not take my work out since we're not going to get any work down because the entire period the teacher will call out Kaiden and Dylan for disruption of class time...

I sighed deeply and continued down the hall where I could see inside the class and Dylan rounding every desk chasing after him. But I stopped when I didn't see Ashontay beside me anymore so I turned back.

She was standing in the middle of the hall, staring ahead. She looked like she'd seen a ghost or something. When I walked up to her with furrowed eyebrows, she snapped out of her daze and faced me.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"That girl looked really familiar. I don't know."

"Dylan? My best friend?"

"Dylan?" She repeated her name and gasped.

"Does she have a brother?"

"Yes..." I was beyond confused right about now. If she just moved from Jamaica, how would she find Dylan familiar? Did she see her while on their trip?

"Name?"

"Aiden.."

"The guy you were with earlier..." She mumbled to herself and rubbed her arms as if she got chills.

"I'm sorry, how do you know them?"

"Um, I have to go," She backed away, confusing me more. "What about class?" I questioned hesitantly.

"I'm skipping. Nothing I haven't done before," She laughed nervously and sped walk down the hall.

Okay it's been a weird day and I need to go home.

___________

If I made any mistakes just
let me know and I'll fix it real quick 💕